Few details in Lowell fireworks incident

LOWELL -- Police have declined to provide details of a fireworks accident in which, according to public-safety radio broadcasts, a 52-year-old man was seriously injured Tuesday night.

No one answered a knock at the door early Wednesday afternoon in a multi-unit building at 406 Pawtucket St., which The Sun learned was the site of the incident. A neighbor said the man who lives at the apartment had a friend over, both were drinking, and the friend was badly injured.

A loud bang that three neighbors described as sounding like a gunshot echoed through the building shortly after 11 p.m. The building's fire alarms went off moments later, they said.

One neighbor, January Jacinto, said the resident next door, who she knows only as Russell, was drinking with a friend when a firework apparently went off inside the apartment. The friend was so badly injured that he passed out and may have lost his hand, she said.

Police spokesman Capt. Kelly Richardson said the department could not give details of the incident because it was under investigation.

An officer was heard on public-safety radio broadcasts saying the injuries were caused by an M-80, a powerful firework. All fireworks are illegal in Massachusetts. The man had serious burns on his face and arms and was flown to a trauma center for treatment, according to broadcasts.

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